yanovel – cafeyre

Title: Ace of Spades
Author: Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
Publisher: Usborne Publishing
Pub. Date: 10 Jun 2021

Synopsis

Chiamaka and Davon are the only two black students at the Niveus Private Academy. While Chiamaka is the most popular girl in the school, Davon stays in the shadows focusing on his music and keeping good grades. When both of them are selected to be part of the elite school’s senior class prefects, everything they were working for starts to fall into ruins. The arrival of anonymous bullies exposed their deep hidden secrets that crush their reputations but also a chance to get into a good college. Together, they decided to stand up against the bully and try to find who’s behind all the messages spread around the school. Small pranks turn into a dangerous game without an easy way out.

Book Review

It’s so hard to review this book without giving any spoilers. This story is a mix of the Gossip Girl, and the movie Get Out. It was pretty slow-paced at the beginning, but when the action started it never ended. The author visualized the racism and hate in prestigious American schools perfectly. I wouldn’t be surprised if it would be written based on the actual events. This book shows how wrong and messed up people are if they’re not fitting into their perfect picture.

Chiamaka since the first year at the Niveus Private Academy was climbing in the hierarchy as a smart and popular girl people would die to be friends with. It was a big surprise to her when she became a victim of an anonymous bully who knew about her more than anyone else. When the secrets get out, her status at the academy has been ruined.

Davon is a shy guy, who prefers to stay in shadows and not bring attention to himself. Music was his passion, and he spent most of the time working on his project and application to Julliard, instead of wasting his time on rich kids at his school. When someone anonymously shared with the whole school news about him being gay, his perfect senior year turned to ashes.

The only thing that connected them was the fact that they were the only black students in the school, which led them to suspicions that this is an act of racism.

The ending of the book was much more surprising than I was expecting it to be. I loved that both main characters were so different from each other, that when they started working together, it didn’t work that well because of their different point of view on the whole situation. I don’t read as many books that take place in high school anymore, but I loved this book and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading thrillers. It had very good plot twists at the end of the story that made this story even better than it had been in the beginning.

Rate: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I would like to thank NetGalley, Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, and Usborne Publishing for providing me with an ARC copy of this book. It was one of my favorite reads of 2021, and I cannot wait to buy myself a copy of this book and read it once again.